Pizza, The New Normal

In Jersey, you ate pizza by the slice, fast, folded, back against the wall. You faced the door, wary, watchful. Mouth shredded, you grabbed your soda to go. You had things to do. Knowwhutimean?

In Chicago, you sat at a table. The pizza was big as a cow and you ate it like a freaking steak. That’s how they do there. Sometimes two layers to fuel up. You lingered with friends until stuffed to bursting. Baby, it’s a blizzard outside.

Now, in SoCal, I nuke a frozen pizza alone in isolation after Lysol-ing the box. The new normal.

~*~

Written for the Carrot Ranch Challenge.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Clue [A-Z Games]

Note: I’m doing the April A-to-Z challenge without signing up or linking back to the main site.

It was hard to choose a C-game because there are so many great ones… Charades, Code Names, Chinese Checkers…

My friends and I played a ton of Clue one summer in New Jersey. It wasn’t the first or the last summer I lived there, so I must have been 12. We also liked Battleship a lot. But Clue was the perfect game for three people, which was the size of our group most days. Just so much fun to logically work out the mystery.

The idea is that at the beginning of the game you mix up the various stacks of cards and put one room card, one suspect card, and one murder weapon card in the secret envelope. The game commences with the players attempting to figure out which cards are in that secret envelope by figuring out which of the other cards are not in there. Obviously, you start with the ones in your own hand to cross off the list of suspects. Turns consist of moving to various rooms in the mansion in order to question the other players.

One of the cool things about Clue was that it encouraged bold guesses; and one of the other cool things was that it penalized wild guessing. If you took a chance too soon to declare the contents of the secret envelope and were wrong… well, whoops, you just lost the whole game. 🤣

MR. MUSTARD IN THE LIBRARY WITH THE HAM SANDWICH!

When googling for the pic, I realized there are a kajillion versions of Clue out now… Scooby Doo, The Office, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, Lost in Vegas (parody game), etc. It’s still super popular!

And of course there was a Clue movie. I thought it was pretty meh, despite the fab cast. Don’t confuse this with Clueless, which was great. 💖

In a college writing class one day, we were broken into random groups and given an assignment to write a one-act play. While the other groups seemed to be excitedly chattering away, I had a quiet one. Great, there went my grade. I hate group projects! We said we’d go home and brainstorm separately, and then reconvene before the next class. This was before social media. I thought it would be funny to write a “Clue” based play, so that’s what I did, and I wrote it all myself, since I was on a roll. The other peeps loved it and didn’t want to change anything. More importantly, when we read it aloud, the teacher loved it and gave us an A. 😻

Please tune in tomorrow when I will blog about Dominoes.

~*~

Image credited to Target dot com.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

PFF44: Baby Dreams

Welcome to Paula’s Friday Flashback! This is a challenge begun by Fandango and it’s fun to see what we posted back when (as well as the comments). The post below is a reblog of a post I made exactly 9 years ago.

Baby Dreams

The other week I had a very odd dream about a baby — a couple I know had a premature baby and I was trying to feed it with a bottle. The baby was so tiny, which made this very difficult, as the bottle was normal-sized. They said keep trying, it’s OK.

And then last night I had another baby dream, though I barely remember this one except the baby was regular-sized.

I visited a dream site to see what these dreams might mean and was happy to discover…

Generally in dreams babies represent your creativity, your ability to give birth to new ideas; the things that you have conceived in your mind and either do, or do not, produce and allow to develop. [Meaning of Dreams ~ site 404’d]

This is cool because I’ve been writing a lot lately.

/end reblog

~*~

Image from Pexels.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Baccarat [A-Z Games]

Note: I’m doing the April A-to-Z challenge without signing up or linking back to the main site.

Baccarat is an insanely complex game! At least it seems that way to me when I read the rules. James Bond makes it appear effortlessly elegant, as he does everything, except of course committing to one woman. Sigh… Where were we? 💕

There are several variations of baccarat, but it’s basically a card game, somewhat like blackjack, except face cards and tens are worth zero. If your cards add up to more than 10, you drop the 10 (6 and 7 is 3, forex). You’re trying to get an 8 or 9, against another player or the house or both. The vast majority of games are played via fixed rules for both the player and the banker, with the gamblers betting on whichever. The house (banker) has the edge, of course. See more here, if you’re interested.

The fixed-rule baccarat games are called punto banco, but that’s not what 007 plays. Bond plays the variation known as chemin de fer (“railway” in French), where it is player vs player, one designated banker. See the above link for a description of further complexities. ♦️♠️♥️♣️

There are variations of both types of games too, but honestly the only reason I became aware of baccarat at all is because Bond plays the game. He plays in Thunderball, pictured above, Dr. No, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, For Your Eyes Only, and GoldenEye. I haven’t seen them all, but I have seen most of them. I read he’ll be back soon. 😍

I do like Daniel Craig as Bond (the blond Bond!). He’s done an outstanding job, in particular with Casino Royale and Skyfall. I’ve never been a Sean Connery purist like some people, though of course I love him as Bond, especially in Dr. No and Goldfinger. But I adore Roger Moore too! The Spy Who Loved Me is one of my all-time favorite Bonds. Some of the others… eh. Pierce Brosnan is adequate, lol. (I loved him in Mamma Mia, okay? 🤣)

Please tune in tomorrow when I blog about Clue.

~*~

Image snarfled from Google.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Thursday Inspiration 50

Welcome to Thursday Inspiration! This is my weekly prompt post and hopefully it will inspire you to write something creative, perhaps a poem or a piece of flash fiction. If you’d like to share your writing with the community, please indulge me and tag your post with #p0eticlicense and/or #lightm0tifs, and of course link back if you wish. I will try to visit everyone who participates. 🙂

This week’s theme is rocket and the picture is below. Here is the song snippet from “Rocket Man” written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin and released in 1972.

And I think it’s gonna be a long long time
‘Till touch down brings me round again to find
I’m not the man they think I am at home
Oh no no no I’m a rocket man
Rocket man burning out his fuse up here alone

~*~

Image from the Happy Color app.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Apples to Apples [A-Z Games]

Note: I’m doing the April A-to-Z challenge without signing up or linking back to the main site.

As my marriage was derailing way back when, BC*, I joined a few meetups to get out of the house and make new friends. I already had writing, so I tried some games. Scrabble worked out for a few years, but I grew tired of it. I found a senior meetup group that sounded fun. The first game we played there was Apples to Apples. 🍏

Omg, what a dumb game! I understand that lots of people enjoy it and that’s cool… to each their own. I don’t mind pure silliness, but this game isn’t even funny; it’s just inane. But A2A was such a fave of this meetup group they played it all the time. I realized the group and I were not a good match.

A2A falls into the “arbitrary judgment” category of games. What I mean by this is that you win a round by choosing a word or picture from cards in your hand that the dealer finds appropriate or amusing. Cards Against Humanity is based on the same concept. For a while, I enjoyed ImaginIFF, which is a similar game but personalized to the actual players. Eventually I grew bored with that one too.

Here’s an example of an A2A turn. The dealer flips over a card that shows the word “cheerful.” You have 7 random cards in your hand (chocolate, Santa, teacher, monster, starfish, mountain, lemon) and must choose the one you think goes best with cheerful. If you know the dealer, you can attempt to choose something based on her likes, but that can backfire. Everyone puts their card face down; the dealer then shuffles them, reads them aloud, and picks her favorite. That person gets an apple card. Then the dealer switches. That’s it.

There are variations of Apples to Apples ~ a version for younger kids, a Jewish version, a “sour” Apples game (the dealer chooses the worst answer for a penalty), etc. I also discovered, during my vast research for this post, that there are more interesting ways to play the original game. So, maybe I dumped that meetup group too quickly ~ I am known to make hasty decisions in the social realm. But so? As it turns out, we’re not allowed to socialize anymore anyway.

Please tune in tomorrow when I will be doing Baccarat. 🙂

~*~

*Before COVID-19.

Image credited to Amazon.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Bingo Update 6

See previous update here.

Look! I haz a bingo! 😀

My choice for a book in the middle of a series was Faye Kellerman’s Murder 101. I read a bunch of her books way back when, loving her main character LAPD Lieutenant Peter Decker, along with his Jewish wife Rina. Peter met Rina on a case and their relationship blossomed; he eventually discovered his own Jewish roots too. The cases themselves were super interesting as well. If you don’t know, Faye is married to bestselling author Jonathan Kellerman ~ I’ve also read some of his novels, but prefer hers.

Anyway. I grew bored with the series after a while and quit reading the new books. But then I found Murder 101 in the used book pile and it intrigued me. Peter has retired from the LAPD and moved with Rina to a sleepy town in upstate NY where “nothing ever happens.” Hehe. There’s a snotty young Harvard dude named Tyler that Peter is forced to work with. Fun! It is a fun read… for a while.

Then the book gets totally bogged down in this morass of art history relating to stolen Russian religious whatsits. Tyler literally googles shit and reads it word for word to Peter in blocks of text. Ughhh boring! And while Faye did her usual great job with the main characters of Peter, Rina, and Tyler too, the suspects were interchangeable and dull. I couldn’t care about any or remember who was who after a while. Honestly, now, a few days after finishing the book, I don’t recall who the actual murderer was! Omg.

Here’s another issue with Faye’s writing, and I vaguely recall it from the past: too few dialog tags. While it’s not necessary (and sometimes annoying) to put “Peter said” and “Tyler said” after every para, you can’t go a dozen with none. Several times, I found myself going back up and counting them to figure it out. Happy medium, folks.

All that said, I gave the book 3 stars. I liked it overall. Some good, some meh. I see there are more FK novels continuing with Peter working in the sleepy little town and interacting with Tyler, who has become a family friend, and I’d give the next one a shot.

But not for this bingo… it’s time for a sci-fi or dystopia methinks. I mean, besides the one we’re living in… 😱

~*~

Image from Kriti & Ariel.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

The Infinity March Share

Surely this is the kazillionth Monday this month? Melanie is a trooper for coming up with yet another set of questions for us!

Pancakes, waffles or French Toast as your breakfast favorite?

Toughie! I adore French Toast with butter and maple syrup, but also blueberry pancakes with butter and blueberry syrup. Look at this French Toast I had at Mother’s with my friend Jenny back when things were normal…

(Why does my silly phone want me to type President after French?)

Do you think a person’s name influences the person they become?

Absolutely! Look at all the horrible men named Michael I dated. Barf! 🤮

Just kidding. I know there are a lot of nice Michaels I haven’t dated.

Would things get better or worse if humans focused on what was going well rather than what’s going wrong?

Things will do as they will.

Is math(s) something that humans created or something we discovered? Is looking at reality mathematically an accurate representation of how things work?

It depends what kind of math. The lower math (addition, etc.) we discovered. It’s true whether we exist or not and it does represent “reality,” I guess. I mean, I can only know human reality. I think though they’ve taught some animals simple math. But then there’s higher math…

What are you grateful for right now?   I realize it’s difficult to be very positive right now, unless one is being positive that things are pretty awful.   Let’s spread the joy in gratitude!! 

It’s a terrible time and I am aware that many people are suffering greatly. I’ve been depressed off and on for various reasons, though I am doing okay as far as physical health (besides the usual). So far. I’m constantly worried about my loved ones and myself too. This morning I got lucky and found everything on my list at my regular grocery store, after not being allowed to place an online order over the weekend. So, I am grateful for that.

Stay safe and well, my peeps. 🌷

~*~

Images from Pexels and Spreadshirts and me.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

The Monday Peeve 29

Smiles and positive posts are all well and good, but sometimes I need to vent a bit. How about you? That’s what The Monday Peeve is all about, a chance to blow off a little steam at the beginning of the week, so then we can go merrily on our way once again (hah). I’ll pick a topic that’s on my mind, but you can vent about whatever you please, here in comments or on your own blog. Grab the photo, use the #TMP tag, and link back to me (or not ~ I dgaf), and Bob’s yer uncle. I do reserve the right to delete any links that offend my delicate sensibilities. So far, none have, but it could happen! I have feelings!

*

Wtf is up with these farking grocery stores? No, I am not talking about the empty TP shelves and jerko hoarders. Can’t stand them either, but people don’t like my plan of shooting them so ya know whatever. I am talking about Amazon and regular grocery stores who appear as though they will deliver regular stuff to you (not TP), so you spend time filling up your online cart to the required minimum or more, jump through the virtual hoops to checkout, and only then do they tell you whoopsie there are no delivery dates available like ever.

Why can’t they say this upfront so you don’t waste time filling your cart? How stupidly inconvenient for the customer! Gawd, I hate them. 😡😡😡😡😡

Let’s give Target some credit. They tell you immediately that no delivery is available in your area as soon as you begin shopping online and click the delivery option . This is less annoying in the scheme of annoying things… since everything nowadays is some degree of irritating AF.

~*~

Image originally from Pixabay.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Make Me A Sandwich

This is the yummy veggie sandwich I used to get at our office building café BC. How I miss it… and my office! I’m one of those odd people who like working in an office every day. And I liked going to school way back when too. 📚

At first, I was gonna riff on the whole “sand witch” thing, but a billion people got there first. I hate when that happens. Which it always does. Instead, I will reminisce about the time that I actually got out of bed to make a guy a sandwich and he complained later that I hadn’t baked him a lasagna. True story for the #paulacanpickem file.

Anyway. The veggie sandwich isn’t my very favorite sandwich; it’s just my favorite that I used to get while working. My favorite is probably a grilled cheese and tomato. I’ve experimented with various breads and different cheeses, and I have to say that I always return to rye bread and American cheese. I also like my grilled cheese very well done, almost burnt, not golden like they serve it in restaurants.

Another favorite sandwich is loxonabagel. Yes, all one word like that. Most of the time, I have this deliciousness open-faced, but it still counts as a sandwich.

Please note how it’s perfectly fine and even recommended (by yours truly) to dot the cream cheese with capers, but I’d rather not have onions on my loxonabagel sandwich. And please no tomato! Save that for grilled cheese. Keep your sandwich fixings in their lanes.

Yes, I know there is tomato in this photo. I am just saying. The only way to know your loxonabagel is better sans tomato is to have one with tomato, amirite? 🤣

Moving on. Some people call a hamburger a sandwich… are you one of them?

I think it’s acceptable! The point is to have a thing between two other separate things. I’m defining it that way to eliminate stuff like pie, which is #notasandwich, but to include sandwich cookies, which we will discuss in depth soon. You didn’t think I was going to end this post without talking about cookies, did you? 😱😱😱

Anyway. Here we have a bun (hun), which is two separate bread pieces, and it creates a convenient way to hold the things inside, which we then can nom while continuing to lose at cards, just as the Earl of Sandwich envisioned. Of course, we must not nom on the pictured cheezberder because it is a CD holder and that would be gross.

Five years ago, when we were living like normal humans, relatively speaking, my eldest took me to a wonderful high tea in Northern California. We had the most scrumptious little cucumber sandwiches and other delights and pastries, and of course many pots of lovely tea. 💖

Before I bring the dessert cart, please allow me to pay tribute to one of the best combos ever invented: the peanut butter and jelly sandwich!

My favorite combo is Jif smooth PB with blackberry or strawberry jam (not jelly) on whole wheat. What’s yours?

Okay, onto the sandwich cookie! Oreo has a baZillion flavors out now, some totes ridonkulous, but I must admit that besides the Double Stuf original flavor, I thought the cookie dough was pretty tasty.

Up in Northern California (again ~ they have yummo food!), my daughter treated me to this divine hazelnut pastry at an Italian bakery.

So so good!

In my fantasy of living a normal life again, whenever that may happen, if it even ever does… I’ll walk into a restaurant without worrying about the last time everything was soaked in bleach, order a sandwich at the counter without fretting over how close people are standing to me, and calmly eat my lunch in a booth with my mind on my blog or a book or work or family or friends or whatever thing other than the you know what!

~*~

Images all mine.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.